EXCLUSIVE: It’s a family affair. Scott Foley and brother-in-law Patrick Wilson are teaming up to produce Ward’s Wife starring former Scrubs star Donald Faison. The Scandal and The Goodwin Games actor’s feature directorial debut will also be produced by Mob Doctor actor James Carpinello, and Marcus Chait for their and Wilson’s Lost Rhino banner. Joe Hardesty is also a producer on Ward’s Wife. As the title suggests, the dark comedy focuses on Ward (Faison) a man who has just had enough of being emotionally and verbally beaten down by his spouse and decides to kill her to free himself. Written by the Felicity alum, Ward’s Wife also stars Foley’s real life sister-in-law and Wilson’s spouse Dagmara Dominczyk as Ward’s wife. Nicollette Sheridan will also be appearing in Ward’s Wife. This is Sheridan’s first film role since her wrongful termination suit against ABC and Desperate Housewives ended in a mistrial on March 2012. Foley, Insidious’ Wilson, Carpinello as well as Marika Dominczyk, Amy Acker and Greg Grunberg are also in the film. Ward’s Wife is scheduled to begin production in LA later this month. Starring in the upcoming Kick-Ass 2, Faison is repped by APA and Intellectual Artists. Carpinello is repped by APA and Untitled Entertainment. Wilson is repped by CAA and Anonymous Content. Foley, who appeared in a major role in the last half of Scandal this season, is repped by ICM Partners and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
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Backstage’s June 13 issue features a roundtable discussion with five of the actors starring in “Much Ado About Nothing,” director Joss Whedon’s adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. Shot in just 12 days at Whedon’s house, the cast includes Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker as sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice, Fran Kranz as lovestruck Claudio, Clark Gregg as doting father Leonato, and Nathan Fillion as inept law official Dogberry.

Backstage shot exclusive videos with the cast, in which they discussed how they met Whedon, their experiences with Shakespeare, and their most embarrassing auditions.

Joss Whedon knows how to build an ensemble. Whether it’s a blockbuster franchise like “The Avengers” or any of his beloved television series, the writer-director specializes in matching his stable of great actors to the right material. So when he decided to tackle Shakespeare’s classic tale of sparring lovers, “Much Ado About Nothing,” he gave it a distinctly Whedonesque spin. Whedon shot the film in black and white in only 12 days at his Santa Monica home, using an ensemble of actors with whom he was already familiar. Many had performed the Bard’s words for Whedon as part of his legendary Shakespeare brunches, where he gathers actors at his home to read plays. His “Ado” film cast includes “Angel” stars Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof, who play soul mates Beatrice and Benedick; “Dollhouse” genius Fran Kranz as young lover Claudio; “Avengers” agent Clark Gregg as Leonato; and “Firefly” captain Nathan Fillion as the comically inept constable Dogberry.

How did Joss first approach you about doing the movie?
Clark Gregg: I was at a barbecue at his house like a week after “The Avengers” had wrapped. I’d seen what he’d just been through for five months, and I was curious where he was going to go be comatose for a week before he had to start editing. He said, “Actually, I’m going to do a film of ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’ ” I felt like guys in white suits were going to come up behind him. Then I realized he was serious, and he asked me if I would be in it. I had just that day said yes to go do a play in New York. I was kind of heartbroken. Then they pushed the play two weeks, and you wouldn’t think that would be enough time to fit a feature film. But I was afraid if I called he’d say, “Ohhhh.” Then he called a couple days later to say someone couldn’t do it, and was I in? We’d start tomorrow.

To be or not to be? That must have been the question Joss Whedon posed to himself when he first questioned the logistics of making his adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing on basically no budget. Fortunately for The Avengers director it was a case of All’s Well That Ends Well as he was able to pull off what for most other independent movie directors would have been a remarkable feat.

Shot in just twelve days within his own home and with a cast made up of a group of faces who would be familiar to anyone who’s ever watched a film or TV series from the ever expanding Whedonverse, Much Ado About Nothing is one of the best rated adaptations to film of one of the Bard’s plays in recent years. A couple of days ago I was able to sit down and have a lengthy chat with its two leading stars Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof (Both of whom are probably most well known for their roles is Whedon’s series Angel) to talk about the challenges of not only making a movie in under a fortnight, but making a Shakespearian movie at that. Forsooth!

Check out the below video to see my full interview with them to hear the full story of how the film came about, what other Shakespeare plays they’d love the chance to tackle and a story of the time Joss Whedon played Hamlet. As well as talking all things Much Ado About Nothing we also talk about The Avengers and their thoughts on a possible Buffy/Angel reunion. But enough of my talking. As the saying goes “If this video be the food of love, play on.”

Joss Whedon fans already know how wonderful Amy Acker is — she was Fred and then Illyria on Angel, Dr. Claire Saunders and then Whiskey on Dollhouse, and Lin in The Cabin in the Woods. And if these parts didn’t showcase enough of her abilities (with her shifting and/or mysterious personalities), Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing remedies that pronto. Demonstrating a fluency that makes it seem as if she speaks like Shakespeare in her sleep, Acker is a revelation as Beatrice, the sharp-tongued heroine of the piece, who fights against her attraction to Benedick and tries to salvage her cousin Hero’s engagement with Claudio. The actress chatted with Vulture about Whedon’s Shakespeare brunches, how Romeo and Juliet spawned a blue demon goddess, and giving Fred/Wesley shippers a happy ending.

When we last saw each other, you said you were planning to catch up on Game of Thrones. Did you in fact catch up?
[Giggles] No. I’m way behind. Nathan Fillion got me hooked on it. I was like, “Is it really that good?” And he said, “Oh, yes.” I haven’t quite gotten my husband to watch it with me. So that’s my goal, to get him to watch it with me. I know, I know! I’ve got to make it a priority.

When you auditioned for Joss for the very first time, for Angel, he wrote you something inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Yeah! He wrote a scene that was in iambic pentameter, that Alexis [Denisof] and J. August Richards were basically cast under a spell that made them fall in love with whichever woman they were looking at, and I came up to them. I think Joss had seen on my résumé that I had done Shakespeare before, and then he wrote that scene, and then in my first couple of weeks on Angel, he asked if I wanted to come do one of the Shakespeare readings at his house. So we’ve kind of had a Shakespeare connection from the beginning. Buy Diazepam Manchester

Joss Whedon is a man who multi-tasks. While directing “The Avengers” — a film he wrote and helped to conceive — he was also busily tackling Shakespeare. On nights and weekends, Whedon edited and scored his adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing,” a film shot in his own house in just 12 days. “Much Ado” kicks off this year’s Seattle International Film Festival.

Known for casting from a central group of talent, Whedon’s “Much Ado,” features some of the biggest names in the “Whedonverse,” including “Castle” star Nathan Fillion, Amy Acker (of “Dollhouse” and “Angel,” among other television shows and films), and Seattleite and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” castmember Alexis Denisof.

“When someone hires you a second time, you know you didn’t blow it the first time,” Fillion jokes.

And the castmembers appreciate the star power that Whedon himself brings.

“He lets you do things that people wouldn’t see you as,” Acker explains, noting that working with Whedon “makes it not feel like work.”

“Joss is the golden ticket,” Fillion noted.

Whedon is also an innovative director who goes to great lengths for his work. The film, which was born out of table readings among friends, was a long time coming, but took just a few months from start to finish. It was shot digitally and “loosely pieced together,” according to Fillion, in a production room in Whedon’s home. It was then edited and produced within just a few weeks. Whedon also wrote the soundtrack for the film.

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With his marriage and career against the ropes, dejected author Jack Spencer travels with his wife, Amanda, to an isolated glamping retreat in search of a spark. When a surprise double booking finds their private retreat anything but private, Jack spins into a comedic exploration of love, lost dreams, small-town-wisdom, and friendship with a miniature donkey to get over himself before he loses all he holds dear.